As a young boy I was shot by a man whose clear intent was to kill me as I had deliberately, by throwing broken bricks at him, interrupted his attempt to rape a young teen-aged girl, allowing her to escape. To this day I can still see the evil in his face and the sun glistening off the barrel of the pistol he aimed in my direction. As I turned and began to run away he fired hitting me in back. The bullet entering my chest felt as if someone had hit me with baseball bat followed immediately by an excruciating burning sensation as I fell to the ground from the impact. Perhaps it was the adrenaline, but I was able scramble to my feet and run as far as I could until finally passing out from the shock and loss of blood. Fortunately, someone came to my rescue and took me to a military hospital and the first step on my journey to the United States.

According to the current incarnation of the American left, who traffic constantly in victimhood and noble intentions, I should be in the vanguard of the mandatory gun control and confiscation movement. That somehow it was the inanimate object this soldier was holding and not him that was responsible for the attempt on my life or to ignore the fact that his mindset was such he would have used any weapon at hand to accomplish the same goal.

On the contrary, I own a handgun today because of the experience of coming face to face with the evil that permeates some men’s souls. I and the girl I rescued were defenseless. There were no police or armed citizens around and the death of another homeless and unknown boy and girl, buried in an unmarked mass grave, would have been just another easily ignored casualty of the post-War period. I was determined that I would never again face a similar circumstance. I have had in my possession firearms for virtually my entire life, as I have been fortunate to live in the one nation on earth that has embedded in its founding document the right to bear arms.

Today, I am, along with a vast majority of my fellow citizens, being made the scapegoat for the failed policies of the so-called progressives — whether it is the inability of society to deal with extreme psychopaths or the mentally deranged, because the left insists they are entitled to the same rights as other citizens, or the never-ending attempt to rehabilitate criminals incapable of rehabilitation. Consistent with their inability to ever admit a mistake, the left and much of the Democratic Party instead focuses on symbolism over substance and the path of least resistance — going after the law-abiding hard working people who are the backbone of America.

But the motivation is more insidious than that. Those that self-identify as progressives, leftists, socialists or Marxists, have one overwhelming trait in common: they are narcissists who believe they are pre-ordained to rule the masses too ignorant to govern themselves. Over the past thirty years as these extremists fully infiltrated academia, the mainstream media, the entertainment industry and taken over the Democratic Party, the American people have lost many of their individual rights. They are now being told what they can eat, where they can live, who they must associate with, where and how their children must be educated, and soon what medical care they are allowed to access, as well as the type of car they can drive and the amount of energy they are permitted to use.

The last bastion of freedom is unfettered gun ownership, so that too must go. That the left is willfully and egregiously exploiting the actions of a deranged psychopath in the tragic death of 26 people (20 children) in Newtown, Connecticut to achieve this end exposes their true motivation.

I immigrated to the United States from a continent that had nearly destroyed itself in World War II. The War was the end-product of the ascension to power of various ego-maniacs, steeped in socialist/Marxist ideology, determined to amass all political power within their countries. Once elected to office, these despots began to centralize their power and eliminate all individual freedoms and democratic institutions. The people, as they lived in nations that did not allow unfettered gun ownership, were powerless to stop the inexorable seizure of power and many paid the ultimate price as nearly 40+ million were killed during the War.

Many on the left and others will say I am trafficking in hyperbole, that nothing similar to that could ever happen in the United States — perhaps not a massive and physically destructive war but the destruction of the nation as it was founded is well on its way. These same ideologues have reassured the American people over the past 40 years that they had no intention of ever:

Telling the American people how to live;

Limiting access to medical care;

Attempting by fiat and legislation to dramatically limit gun ownership;

Shifting near unlimited power to Washington D.C., by ignoring the concept of federalism;

Allowing unrestrained illegal immigration in order to affect the voting patterns in their favor.

Yet in the America of 2013 all this, and more, has come to pass and we are expected to believe the progressive cabal when they say their ultimate aim is not to effectively invalidate the second amendment by ever more stringent laws and regulations.

The left’s fundamental objective of transforming America is in sight, particularly with a fellow-traveler in the White House no longer facing re-election. Over the next four years, this faction will push their agenda more forcefully than ever as they will never allow a crisis, real or manufactured; to go to waste as they make certain an ever-increasing percentage of the population becomes indentured to the government.

I have lived my entire life on borrowed time and now in the twilight of my years, I have but one thing to say to those determined to take away or limit my right to own a firearm and to transform and destroy the greatest nation in the history of mankind. I, and many like me, will not be intimidated and you will only accomplish your ultimate ends over our dead bodies.

Among the objections to ObamaCare, one that has not gotten as much attention as it should is the president’s power to waive the law for any company, union or other enterprise he chooses.

The 14th Amendment to the Constitution provides for “equal protection of the laws” for all Americans. To have a law that can cost an organization millions of dollars a year either apply or not apply, depending on the whim or political interest of the President of the United States, is to make a mockery of the rule of law.

How secure is any freedom when there is this kind of arbitrary power in the hands of one man?

What does your right of freedom of speech mean if saying something that irritates the Obama administration means that you or your business has to pay huge amounts of money and get hit with all sorts of red tape under ObamaCare that your competitor is exempted from, because your competitor either kept quiet or praised the Obama administration or donated to its reelection campaign?

Arbitrary ObamaCare waivers are bad enough by themselves. They are truly ominous as part of a more general practice of this administration to create arbitrary powers that permit them to walk roughshod over the basic rights of the American people.

The checks and balances of the Constitution have been evaded time and time again by the Obama administration, undermining the fundamental right of the people to determine the laws that govern them, through their elected representatives.

You do not have a self-governing people when huge laws are passed too fast for the public to even know what is in them.

You do not have a self-governing people when “czars” are created by Executive Orders, so that individuals wielding vast powers equal to, or greater than, the powers of Cabinet members do not have to be vetted and confirmed by the people’s elected representatives in the Senate, as Cabinet members must be.

You do not have a self-governing people when decisions to take military action are referred to the United Nations and the Arab League, but not to the Congress of the United States, elected by the American people, whose blood and treasure are squandered.

You do not have a self-governing people when a so-called “consumer protection” agency is created to be financed by the unelected officials of the Federal Reserve System, which can create its own money out of thin air, instead of being financed by appropriations voted by elected members of Congress who have to justify their priorities and trade-offs to the taxpaying public.

You do not have a self-governing people when laws passed by the Congress, signed by previous Presidents, and approved by the federal courts, can have the current President waive whatever sections he does not like, and refuse to enforce those sections, despite his oath to see that the laws are faithfully executed.

Barack Obama, for example, has refused to carry out sections of the immigration laws that he does not like, unilaterally creating de facto amnesty for those illegal immigrants he has chosen to be exempt from the law. The issue is not — repeat, NOT — the wisdom or justice of this President’s immigration policy, but the seizing of arbitrary powers not granted to any President by the Constitution of the United States.

You do not have a self-governing people if President Obama succeeds in having international treaties under United Nations auspices govern the way Americans live their lives, whether with gun control laws or other laws.

Obama’s “citizen of the world” mindset was revealed back in 2008, when he said “We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that every other country is going to say okay.”

The desire to circumvent the will of the American people was revealed even more ominously when Barack Obama said to Russian President Medvedev — when he thought the microphone was off — that, after he is reelected and need never face the voters again, he can be more “flexible” with the Russians about missile defense.

There are other signs of Obama’s contempt for American Constitutional democracy, but these should be more than enough. Dare we risk how far he will go when he never has to face the voters again, and can appoint Supreme Court justices who can rubber stamp his power grabs? Will this still be America in 2016?

We all love scary movies. Almost everyone loves a good scare. The joy of scary movies is that we may be frightened at the movie, but at least at the end we can walk out of the theater unharmed.

As Americans go to the polls, perhaps we should take a look at the scary movie that would be a second Obama term.

How bad will it be?

It is almost a certainty we would look back to the good old days where we only had 8% unemployment. With new taxes and overwhelming regulation, business would be choked. With continued printing of money, with so-called “Quantitative easing,” inflation will rear its head.

With Obamacare fully implemented, Americans will start seeing shortages of doctors. Wait times and health care rationing will make their appearances before the end of Obama’s second term.

The American dream of owning your own home will be nothing but a fantasy for millions of Americans. Between Obama’s uncontrolled spending and the ballooning costs of Obamacare, our deficit will be significantly over $20 trillion. Not only will more money be spent on lavish welfare benefits and Obamacare, insolvent blue states, such as California and Illinois will be bailed out at a cost of trillions. All of that money will be borrowed.

At that level, despite the best efforts of the Fed, America will no longer be able to borrow money at the historically low interest rates America has in the past. Interest rates in America will skyrocket. This will consume even more of the federal budget, just to service the debt.

The skyrocketing interest rates will make it impossible for all but the very rich or well connected to get reasonable mortgages. It will also destroy much of the ability of businesses to borrow to buy equipment and grow.

As Obama rolls into his second term, his EPA will fulfill Obama’s promise not only to bankrupt any new coal-fired power plants but will bankrupt the existing ones. Unemployment will skyrocket in coal producing areas. Without the coal fired plants, power costs will skyrocket for Americans.

Skyrocketing energy prices will devastate an already weak economy. For many Americans, especially in hot areas, such as the South, air-conditioning will become a luxury. In many areas, energy will become so expensive that the only option will be some form of rationing, such as rolling blackouts.

While Americans swelter in the summer heat, those Americans still lucky enough to have a job, will dream of the days when they could take vacations. They will look back longingly at the days of George W. Bush when gas was $1.80 a gallon or even the days of the first Obama term, where on election day 2012, gas was only $3.29 a gallon. Gas prices will soar to $7 or $8 a gallon and most of that will be imported.

As Barack Obama leaves office at the end of his second term, the new President will be the first president elected to the post-superpower era of America.

Because of pressures on the budget and Obama’s priorities, the military will be a hollow shell of what it once was. The Navy will be unable to project power into both the Atlantic and Pacific at the same time. Many nations will now have Air Forces and Armies larger than America’s military and for the first time since World War II, some of these militaries will be better equipped.

America will also be the first superpower to unilaterally disarm itself of nuclear weapons, opening the door to aggression from even second-rate powers.

This is Obama’s America if he gets a second term.

Fortunately this nightmare can be avoided. We can walk out of this theater, only scared of what the future might have been.

The push to disarm Americans has been around a long time. An estimated ninety million Americans own guns legally and in states that permit concealed carry the crime rate drops precipitously by comparison with others that do everything they can to make the purchase and carry of firearms difficult.

Gun ownership in America is the highest since 1993 with estimates of 300 million guns owned by citizens. Ownership crosses political party lines and other demographic cohorts. From its earliest days as a nation, the Founding Fathers were united in the need for an armed citizenry as a response to the potential tyranny of a government that might seek to impose its will on Americans through force.

The notion that one can keep criminals from acquiring firearms is idiotic. In cities like Chicago with laws that all but deny gun ownership, the murder rate is off the charts. By June, 228 residents of Chicago had been killed, compared to 44 troops in Afghanistan’s combat zones.

There’s a reason gun sales in America soared after the election of Barack Obama. Nobody except his brainwashed minions trust him. Over the past three and a half years he has issued more than 900 Executive Orders, many of which grant him and the federal government extraordinary control over all aspects of life for Americans. The hallmark of every totalitarian regime is gun control, the disarming of citizens.

This is, after all, a President who disparaged Americans who he said, “cling to their religion and their guns.”

As columnist, Chuck Baldwin wrote in 2007, “One thing the national news media will always ignore is the practice of lawful self-defense. For example, most people are probably not aware of the fact that American citizens use a firearm to defend themselves more than 2.4 million times every year. That is more than 6,500 times every day.”

“This means that, each year, firearms are used 60 times more often to protect the lives of honest citizens than to take lives. Furthermore, of the 2.4 million self-defense cases, more than 192,000 are by women defending themselves against sexual assault. And in less than eight percent of those occasions is a shot actually fired. The vast majority of the time (92%), the mere presence of a firearm helps to avert a major crime from occurring.”

Why then is the Obama administration in the process of purchasing millions of bullets for agencies, some of whom have nothing to do with national defense?

In May I wrote about an Ashville, North Carolina citizen who wrote a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency inquiring about the address of an employee who gained overnight fame when it was reported he wanted to “crucify” oil companies. Two EPA agents, fully armed, showed up without notice at his front door.

Why does the Social Security Administration need to purchase ammunition? A spokesman for the SSA compared its investigators to state or local police officers who are armed while on “official duty.”

Why would the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) specifically purchase 750 million rounds of hollow-point ammunition in March and follow up with an additional 750 million? In a recent article in AmericanThinker.com, retired Major General Jerry Curry noted in The Daily Caller, “This is enough ammunition to empty five rounds into the body of every living American citizen.” The article asked whether Obama would seek to hold onto power “by any means possible.”

Granted that DHS is charged with protecting the homeland, but is there any indication that the nation is under threat of an invasion and, if so, isn’t it the job of the U.S. military to respond to such a threat?

Or perhaps the answer is the belief within the Obama administration that it might face a massive insurrection if it tried to take over the nation by delaying the November elections or imposing martial law as the result of a contrived national threat?

A recent issue of Small Arms Journal contained an article titled “Full Spectrum Operations in the Homeland: A ‘Vision’ of the Future.” It game-played in full operational detail how the Army would put down a local Tea Party insurrection. Does anyone except those inside the Obama administration believe that the Tea Party would ever engage in such an effort?

This is the same administration actively trying to suppress a Congressional investigation into operation “Fast and Furious” that encouraged the transmittal of firearms to Mexican drug cartels, allegedly to track them, but instead some were used to kill a U.S. Border Patrol agent. So guns for the cartels are okay, but guns for law-abiding Americans are not. The Attorney General has been held in contempt of Congress for his failure to be forthcoming in the investigation.

The massive purchase of ammunition by agencies that have little or no relationship to the nation’s security raises questions and concerns that cannot be dismissed or ignored. They are apiece with a variety of all actions the Obama administration has taken that suggest the suppression by force of any response Americans might take if they believed it intended to impose a dictatorship.

The UN Small Arms Treaty is a great evil due to the fact it is a threat to our Second Amendment rights. While there is always cause for concern anytime our rights are threatened, the NRA has this one pretty much under control and it is very doubtful the Senate will have the votes to ratify this treaty, assuming Obama signs it.

The third evil is flying under the radar. Few people know about it. That is by design.

It is an agreement that is so bad, at least the parts that we know about it, that America is committing suicide by signing it.

The operative part here is, what we know about it. The negotiations, working papers and almost all details other than a few public sessions have been classified. Congressman Darryl Issa has requested to be allowed to attend the upcoming round of negotiations for the Trans Pacific Partnership.

He’s gotten about as much cooperation on that as he has on Fast and Furious.

Traditionally, members of Congress of both parties have been allowed to observe trade negotiations. Why the secrecy for the Trans Pacific Partnership?

Fortunately a few details have leaked out and what we know is very bad.

First, the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) will set up foreign tribunals to which the United States MUST submit to. The Supreme Court will no longer be the top court in the United States. The Supreme Court will be subject to the rulings of these foreign tribunals.

The TPP sets up special foreign investor privileges. They would not be subject to the laws that American businesses are subject to and if they did not like it they could sue the American government directly in tribunals set up by the World Bank and thee United Nations.

Oh yes, the US would have a fair trial with judges from China, Iran, Russia and North Korea.

The TPP would gut food safety standards for imported food. Anyone remember the stories about people dying in China because of contaminated food? That kind of contamination does not get into our food supply because we have food safety standards and we stop contaminated food.

Think this is an overreaction? The World Trade Organization just ordered the US to change its consumer labels to tell us where food comes from because Canada and Mexico complained. This is what happened under current law.

Imagine what would happen under TPP?

Do you want to buy meat that came from China? I don’t and I want to know if the meat or other foods I am buying come from any place other than Iowa or Texas!

Under the proposed TPP, our government could no longer buy American! Such programs would be considered illegal under the TPP. In other words, Americans would be forced to spend their tax dollars to keep Chinese workers or Vietnamese workers or Mexican workers working but not American workers.

In 1992, the Great Republican Failure, I mean George H.W. Bush favored the NAFTA agreement. So did Bill Clinton. Ross Perot famously warned that we were hearing a giant sucking sound that was NAFTA taking our jobs.

Do you know what?

Perot was right. NAFTA was the first of a series of free trade agreements we signed. All of them have been disasters. Our trade deficits have shot up, our manufacturing base has been destroyed and the American blue-collar middle class is disappearing.

TPP is NAFTA on steroids. The only difference between steroids and NAFTA is that steroids do some good.

In March, the Korean Free Trade Agreement went into effect. Guess what? Our trade deficit with Korea has exploded since then. In May, our trade deficit with Korea had jumped to $2 billion, which is a 53.5% increase over what it was a year earlier. Meanwhile, thanks to this great deal, American exports to Korea are tanking.

How many times to do these idiots have to get it wrong before they figure out they are wrong!

Most people learn from their mistakes. Unfortunately the people who are running our nation are living proof of the adage that our nation was designed by geniuses and is now run by idiots.

This is an issue that crosses ideological lines. Conservative groups oppose this idiocy. Liberal groups oppose this idiocy.

I believe in a concept I call 90% leadership. While there are many issues we can disagree on, there are a lot of issues out there that 90% of Americans will agree on. So why aren’t we acting on those?

This is a 90% issue.

90% of Americans agree that we need to protect American jobs. We need to protect American products and businesses. We need to keep our food supply safe.

These are our American priorities.

We need to act now.

TPP is being negotiated behind close doors. We need to create resistance to TPP. Many people, even Congressmen and Senators are not aware of the details of the TPP.

What should you do?

Call your Senators and Congressman. Tell them you want them to demand that the Trans Pacific Partnership be stopped. August is the Congressional recess. Many Congressmen and Senators will be holding town halls or campaign events where constituents can speak to them. Go and tell them you want TPP stopped.

Either we act now or the giant sucking sound we will hear is the end of our economy, our sovereignty and our nation.

I regard the next four months between now and the election to be the most dangerous that the nation has faced since the months before the outbreak of the Civil War. I am concerned that President Obama, who has already declared “a state of emergency” in a recent Executive Order, will attempt to assert dictatorial powers and require U.S. military and law enforcement authorities to enforce them

You don’t get to be a general by saying no to the Commander-in-Chief. Witness the way “Don’t ask, don’t tell” was thrown under the bus by the most gay-friendly president in history. Then there’s the idiotic push to power naval ships with biofuels. The Fort Hood murders required a lot of officers to ignore the obvious. Et cetera.

My normal response to conspiracy theories is to dismiss them until I can find sufficient cause to give them credence. That said—President Obama is unlike any previous president this nation has ever had.

He is what those of us on the Right call “a red diaper baby,” raised from birth and mentored to embrace communism. Including his mother and grandparents, all of his closest friends and advisors come from the extreme Left.

By word and by action, Obama’s disregard for the Constitution, its separation of powers, and Americans suffering greatly from his policies, suggests that he is not beyond making the greatest grab for power using a bogus “national emergency” or manufactured “crisis” to declare martial law.

He has, moreover, recently issued three Executive Orders that (1) declare that the U.S. is in a state of emergency, (2) empowers the federal government to seize anything and everything it wants to pursue martial law in the event of an attack, foreign or domestic, and (3) to control all the means of communication nationwide..

The biggest question facing Americans is whether the members of our military and our law enforcement authorities would obey him. My bet is that they would not.

Millions of active duty and veterans swear an oath when they embark on active duty. The oath for non-commissioned officers differs slightly in that includes accepting orders from the President and the officers serving over them.

For officers, the oath is “I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

The oath is for life! It does not end when you are discharged from active duty. Law enforcement officers take a comparable oath. As Gen. Douglas McArthur said when he spoke to the corps at West Point, the oath for all who take it is about “duty, honor, country.”

There is an organization called Oath Keepers composed of those who have served or currently serve in our military, in law enforcement, and as fire fighters. Here is their “Declaration of Orders We Will Not Obey.”

2. We will NOT obey any order to conduct warrantless searches of the American people, their homes, vehicles, papers, or effects—such as warrantless house-to-house searches for weapons or persons.

3. We will NOT obey any order to detain American citizens as “unlawful enemy combatants” or to subject them to trial by military tribunal.

4. We will NOT obsey orders to impose martial law or a “state of emergency” on a state, or to enter with force into a state, without the express consent and invitation of that state’s legislature and governor.

5. We will NOT obey orders to invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty and declares the national government to be in violation of the compact by which that state entered the Union.

6. We will NOT obey any order to blockage American cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps.

7. We will NOT obey any order to force American citizens into any form of detention camps under any pretext.

8. We will NOT obey orders to assist or support the use of any foreign troops on U.S. soil against the American people to “keep the peace” or to “maintain control” during any emergency, or under any other pretext. We will consider such use of foreign troops against our people to be an invasion and an act of war.

9. We will NOT obey any orders to confiscate the property of the American people, including food and other essential supplies, under any emergency pretext whatever.

10. We will NOT obey any orders which infringe on the right of the people to free speech, to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances.

Samuel Adams of U.S. Revolutionary fame once said, “If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.”

The oath keepers and other patriots are all that stand between “We the People” and a government verging on evil.

But at a June 30 fundraiser in Wheeling, W.Va., SpeakerJohn Boehneroffered a surprisingly frank assessment of the dynamic that surprised some in the audience.

Aside from Romney’s “friends, relatives and fellow Mormons,” Boehner said, most people will be motivated to vote for him in opposition to Obama.

The Ohio Republican made the remarks when an unidentified woman asked during a question-and-answer session: “Can you make me love Mitt Romney?”

“No,” Boehner said. “Listen, we’re just politicians. I wasn’t elected to play God. The American people probably aren’t going to fall in love with Mitt Romney. I’ll tell you this: 95 percent of the people that show up to vote in November are going to show up in that voting booth, and they are going to vote for or against Barack Obama.

Holy Cow!

Boehner is actually showing some intelligence.

The problem here is that he is right. The Republican Party is poised to nominate someone who fits right into the tradition of bad Republican Presidential candidates.

Honestly who the hell likes Mitt Romney?

Is anyone other than his immediate family passionate about his candidacy? When Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich endorsed Romney, they both said the same thing. He isn’t Barack Obama.

Their endorsements were not that he would make a fantastic President. Their endorsements were not that he would change America for the better. It’s just he isn’t Barack Obama.

Earth to the Republican Party! Buy a clue while you still can.

You will never win an election by simply telling people to vote against the other guy.

If you are going to win you have to offer something and one of the things that has to be offered is passion.

Mitt Romney offers no passion or excitement. His best future might be as the keynote speaker for Insomniacs of America. Republicans were passionate about Michele Bachmann. They were passionate about Rick Perry. They were passionate about Herman Cain and are still passionate about his “9-9-9” plan. They were passionate about Newt Gingrich. Even Ron Paul had passionate followers.

Mitt Romney just puts everyone to sleep.

The only thing the Republican establishment seems to be able to say about Mitt Romney is that he is not Barack Obama and he is not a conservative Tea Party candidate.

If the Republican Party is to create a functioning majority, like Ronald Reagan did, it has to not only stand for something but it must have ideas and candidates that create passion.

When the highest-ranking elected Republican says voters are not going to fall in love with the presumptive nominee, then that should be a red alert message to the Republican Party that they need to do something and do something quickly.

For this election, failure is not an option. Barack Obama must be defeated. But as even John Boehner noted, Mitt Romney is not going to create the kind of passion that makes people go out and vote for him.

The Republican Party needs to act quickly before Mitt Romney joins that long list of Republican failures that includes Bob Dole and John McCain.

I think it would be more accurate to say they are often ignorant of things educated people are expected to know. Most certainly much of the news media leaves them uninformed or misinformed and our educational system—K through 12—has been doing a poor job for decades.

I, however, am more encouraged about American’s IQ. The rise of the Tea Party movement suggests quite a few Americans were paying attention when they attended school. In addition, polling data supports an encouraging picture of whether Americans are aware of the issues affecting their lives these days.

As of May 26, Rasmussen Reports said that 64% of likely voters prefer “a government with fewer services and lower taxes.” Just slightly more than half, 51%, think the government will go bankrupt. Few are fooled regarding the economy; 63% say the country is going in the wrong direction. In general, the majority has a good fix on what’s wrong and what has to be done.

That’s encouraging, but I also worry that too many likely voters and others do not know or do not possess a fundamental knowledge of math, science, and history. Their basic reading and writing skills often are minimal. Is it because they are less intelligent than earlier generations or, as I believe, they are poorly served in our nation’s schools.

If Congress, composed of our elected representatives, is an example, then it is clear that many Senators and Representatives are clueless when it comes to economics, science, history and other bodies of knowledge necessary to make informed decisions.

Every President wants to look like he’s solving the problem of a poorly performing educational system. President Obama has a “Race to the Top” program that is typically just another excuse to give away money. His predecessor, President Bush, introduced “No Child Left Behind” legislation that imposed a regimen of constant testing that is an abject failure, ignoring the fact that children learn at different rates, and altering the entire educational system to “teach to the test.”

The federal government’s and the teachers’ union takeover of the nation’s educational system threatens any progress, any reform, any repair. The problem has roots that reach back to the 1960s, nor should anyone be surprised that many of those youthful radicals became part of academia, shaping the nation’s educational system.

The facts about education in America are well known and well established. It is no surprise that a recent Wall Street Journal article reported that the “School-Test Backlash Grows” as “the increasing role of standardized testing in U.S. classrooms is triggering pockets of rebellion across he country from school officials, teachers and parents who say the system is stifling teaching and learning.”

William Bennett, a former Secretary of Education, led the Empower America Education Project and, in 2000 as the new century dawned, he noted the following:

# American 12th graders rank 19th out of 21 industrialized countries in mathematics achievement, 16th out of 21 nations in science.

# Since 1983 more than ten million Americans have reached the 12th grade without having learned to read at a basic level. More than 20 million had reached their senior year unable to do basic math. Almost 25% had reached 12th grade without knowing the essentials of U.S. history.

In February 2012 The National Center for Policy Analysis, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization released a report, “Restructuring Public Education for the 21st Century, noting that “Students in dozens of other countries, including China, South Korea, Germany and Finland, outperformed American students in reading, math and science, according to the Program for International Student Assessment results released in December 2010.” In the course of a single decade, they slid to a ranking of 23rd in science, 17th in reading, and 31st in math.”

The average dropout rate nationwide is between 30% and 40%. Urban centers report dropout rates as high as 80%. The Center concluded that “A six-hour school day and 190 day school year will not and cannot compete with other industrialized nations where students meet higher academic standards, have better prepared teachers, spend 30% to 50% more time in class, and are supported by a parental culture that expects and requires more from their children.”

In Wisconsin, it was the teachers’ union that was the most vocal in its opposition to changes in collective bargaining rules. A recall election of Gov. Scott Walker will occur on June 5th. The Heartland Institute just released a study of Gov. Walker’s reforms known as Act 10.

“Act 10 virtually eliminated [Wisconsin’s] $3.6 billion budget deficit … and provided school districts with measures previously unavailable to them to accomplish spending reductions,” writes report author Maureen Martin, a Wisconsin resident and general counsel and senior fellow for legal affairs at The Heartland Institute “Many districts have balanced their budgets for the first time in years” and “some even have surpluses and are hiring more teachers and reducing class size.”

Not only do the nation’s schools continue to pose an obstacle to the education of young Americans and by extension to the nation’s ability to compete in a world where other nations are emerging to challenge us, the nation’s school system has been turned into a threat to freedoms we take for granted.

Schools have become places where what children eat is of greater concern than what they learn. Students are tracked like criminals with educational data collection. A government mental health curricula through the third grade has been imposed. The widespread use of behavioral drugs for children who are bored by the daily straight jacket imposed is commonplace. Many middle and high schools are analogous to minimum security prisons.

As voters go to the polls in November, studies indicate that the majority will not know the names of their congressman or opposing candidates. Fully 45% do not know that each State elects two senators, 40% do not know the name of the vice president, and 63% cannot name the chief justice of the U.S.

This is ignorance, but it contributes to the impression of a nation of stupid people making critical decisions about who will lead it.

I do not write unpleasant things about Barack Hussein Obama because he is a Democrat, a far-left liberal ideologue, a confirmed liar, or the sock-puppet of whatever cabal that chose him long ago to be the President. I write unpleasant things because he is all of these things, but also because he is the most stupid man to have ever held the office of President.

As far back as January 2, 2010 I wrote that Obama had “a make-believe life”because there was no proof that anything he claimed in his two memoirs, written by the age of 45, was true. His resume listed “community organizer”, an amorphous term that could mean anything, as his primary occupation. By October 2010 the Washington Times published a commentary of mine that said “millions of Americans are beginning to ask: Is President Obama just a moron?”

Even prior to his election, he had ensured that his entire paper trail of birth certificates, passports, college records, and other items most people can produce in under five minutes were “sealed” from public review, despite the fact that most modern presidents have had to submit their personal records, short of a colonoscopy exam, for examination. Among his first executive orders was one issued on January 21, 2009 to ensure none of these records saw the light of day.

When he finally produced a birth certificate, forensic analysts deemed it a forgery.

So, what really occurred on Election Day in 2008 was that a majority of voters, guided by an adoring mainstream press, elected an enigma. He rewarded their obsequiousness by being the first President since Grover Cleveland to not attend their annual Gridiron dinner.

Since then, anyone paying any attention has had to conclude that Americans elected an ignoramus, based solely on his own words and actions.

Here’s just a quick look at some of them.

Hans Bader, a scholar with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, addressed recent examples of Obama’s ignorance when he mocked Republicans as members of the Flat Earth Society in Columbus’ day for their skepticism of his green energy policies, among which was a hearty endorsement of algae—pond scum, but Columbus’ contemporaries knew the Earth was round, but doubted he could reach Asia via the Atlantic Ocean. Bader noted that Obama “falsely attributed to Muslims the invention of printing and even falsely claimed that Morocco was the first country to recognize the United States as a new nation.”

The problem for many Americans, mostly registered Democrats and self-identified liberals is that his gaffes are dismissed despite the evidence that his policies have proved to be huge failures. His “stimulus” program wasted billions without producing any jobs, shovel-ready or not. We still have an 8.2% unemployment rate.

The fate of Obamacare will be decided shortly by the Supreme Court after 26 States brought suit against it as unconstitutional, but Obama, who was the editor of the Harvard Law Review and taught constitutional law, apparently has not read the document, claiming the judges are “unelected” (they are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate) and therefore have no right to pass judgment despite Marbury v Madison that established the Court’s role of judicial oversight.

Obama’s disdain and contempt for just about everyone except Muslims is astonishing. He has insulted just about every element of American society and many world leaders. In ways large and small this has been a constant element of his presidency. After gratuitously insulting doctors, bankers, and the insurance industry, he pushed hard to provide the planner of 9/11 a civil trial without all the protections afforded by the Constitution—in New York City.

Between January and July 2009, Obama sent a bust of Winston Churchill back to the British embassy. He gave the Queen of England an iPod with 40 show tunes, photos of his inauguration, and two of his speeches. Former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, was given a box set of 25 DVDs, all in a format that does not work in England. Later, eager to empty Guantanamo, he authorized the transfer of some detainees to a British protectorate, Bermuda, without consultation with the UK.

Obama’s contempt for Catholics has long been on display before the Obamacare demand that they jettison their consciences regarding the sanctity of human life. His nomination of Kathleen Sebelius, a Catholic apostate, as Secretary of Health and Human Services earned her a warning from Bishop Joseph Naumann not to present herself for Holy Communion.

His antipathy for Israel and its Prime Minister, Benyamin Netanyahu has been on display from the beginning of his term, at one point admonishing the Israelis for building new housing in their own capitol and at another suggesting they retreat to their 1967 borders, a suicidal notion that Israelis found appalling.

At one point he said, “One thing I’m proud of is that very rarely will you hear me simplify issues.” His campaign motto was “Yes we can.”

Early on, he sent Air Force One to do a low fly-by of New York City for a photo op, neglecting to tell anyone there and generating 9/11 flashbacks and panics. Then he embarked on a global trip that quickly was dubbed his “apology tour” for an America about which he could little good to cite. At one point, he actually bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia. We do not dip our flag to any other and no U.S. President bows to any other state leader, let alone a monarch.

His ignorance has been on display for so long the public hardly takes notice. “I’ve now been in 57 states. I think one left to go,” he said during his 2008 campaign. He referred to “Austrian” as a language when no such language exists; Austrians speak German.

His ignorance of economics is legendary. He referred to a “profit and earnings ratio” when the correct term is price-to-earnings (P/E). He still thinks that, as long as the Federal Reserve can print money out of thin air, the nation can never go broke.

He actually believes the economy will improve if taxes are increased; something that has never before happened in the history of the nation.

Whole books can and will be written about Obama’s ignorance and failures of judgment that Americans will have to live with for a very long time, especially as future generations try to dig out from his tripling of the national debt, the highest unemployment rates since the Great Depression, and a housing market that has yet to have rebounded.

Add in gas prices Americans have never seen since gasoline was invented to power our cars and you have a man who is not what he claims to be and is too stupid to be the President of the United States, let along serve as a White House tourist guide.

Obama complains that it is not fair that the successful Americans are not forced to give up more of their hard earned wealth so that he can fund goofy social experiments and government programs that benefit his core constituencies or his campaign contributors.

Are we really going to use fairness as a standard?

It is not fair that I am not 6’4’’. It is not fair that when I was 20 or even today that I do not have the physique of a body builder. It is not fair that I was not born with the looks of a major movie star.

It is not fair that I do not have the biggest house in my state. It is not fair my father was not a billionaire nor is it fair that I am not a billionaire.

How to we resolve these fairness issues? We can’t do much about my height or looks or who my parents were, but the government can confiscate the largest house in my area and give it to me. The government can confiscate enough money to give me a billion dollars.

That’s pretty fair, right?

It is fair unless it is your house that is being taken away and given to me. It is fair unless it is your money that is going to be taken away and given to me.

This is the problem with Obama and the Party of Treason. They have decided they are going to be the judges of fairness. It is a very subtle message because as Americans we have always been taught fairness is a virtue.

Fairness is a virtue. But it is not the cornerstone on which we base policy. If we do base policy on fairness, it must be fair to everyone, not for the benefit of one group.

It is no more fair to demand that a segment of our population forfeit a greater portion of what they have earned than it is for the government to order a portion of the population to live in poverty.

Obama and the Party of Treason want to dictate to America what is fair. What is fair to America is for us to have a real American as our leader. What is fair is to have leadership in this nation that looks out for real Americans, not the beltway crowd.

What is fair for America is sending the Obama, Pelosi, Reid axis of fiscal evil into retirement and out of Washington.

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